Maintenance Advice for a 2 year old SIB

[Vincent Vega]

A couple of years ago we bought a 4.7m Seapro SIB with a 50hp Barrus/Mariner Outboard. It’s only been used for about 6 weeks in total, mainly on the sea in France or Spain. It’s been used for pottering about with the family, snorkelling and for towing water skiers and donuts. At the end of the holiday we’ve flushed the engine using a muff and have cleaned the boat of all the salt water using a jet wash.

I just wondered what else we should be doing to maintain the boat and engine. I’m not mechanical or technical at all so how often would you recommend having the engine serviced by a professional? Is this something that I should be doing every year?

One other question, when we’re using the boat there isn’t much water being squirted (excuse my ignorance of technical terms) out of the outboard. Is this normal or is it indicative of a problem?

Thanks for any replies. :-)

[uncle al]

what does the owners handbook say? Is it a 2/str or a 4/str?
there is a procedure for storing /winterizing OBMs
pm me if you want to.

[SR4]

Check the leg oil, there is a big screw at the bottom near the prop, you will need a BIG screwdriver, undo it a bit NOT FULLY or you will get oil everywhere, and see what comes out, it should be nice oil, if there is any gunky white there could be water getting into it. Worth changing the spark plugs for the minor cost. When you start it up on land do you see water coming out at the bottom of the leg, you should do as well as the squirting, if its not then seek professional advice because I don't know what I am talking about

[Vincent Vega]

My Dad bought the boat and has since left on a Church mission for 3 years leaving us to look after, and hopefully make use of the boat for him. We'll send him pictures. ;-)

I've had a look at his invoice and it's listed on there as a 50hp 2 stroke.

As I've looked through his "boat" file he's also made a note to "order and replace stringer (RHS) both end caps". I know I sound like an idiot but do you have any idea what a "stringer cap" is?

[SR4]

Maybe pray and the answer will come to you in the morning

[Vincent Vega]

Originally Posted by SR4

Maybe pray and the answer will come to you in the morning

I've been trying that for 12 months since he left. I mustn't have the faith that he has. ;-)

[Fenlander]

>>>I know I sound like an idiot but do you have any idea what a "stringer cap" is?

I'm taking a guess on this one. I have a Honwave with alloy floor and they share many features with the Seapro. The stringers will be the alloy sections each side that fit to the floor edges to make it rigid. On a Honwave these sections have plastic end caps which do not fit that tightly and are easily lost. Once mising it exposes a very sharp end on the stringer that could damage the boat material as the stringer is pushed into place.

I lost one the first trip on my boat and ordered some spares as well as the missing one. Got them from a Honwave dealer foc.

[Vincent Vega]

Cheers for pointing me in the right direction. You're absolutely right, it's the black plastic end piece that has fallen out and got lost.

I took the boat in to the place I bought it from today to have the outboard serviced and asked them if they could get replacement end caps. They told me that they can't get replacements and that they're not needed and no damage would be done to the tubes without them. I know they know more about these things than I do but I'm not sure I want to take the risk as the edges do look sharp. I'm not sure what to do now. I'll maybe try a Honwave dealer and see if theirs fit my floor.

Thanks again for the help.

[Pottsy]

Hi Vin
first post for me. i had a yam 360 sib for 10 years and looked after it pretty well and it did me also.

i wouldnt risk running without the end caps as the stringer end may eventually do damage to tubes as the boat flexes. particularly if u run it slightly under inflated.

i use too insert a small piece of plastic mat at each of the stringer ends between the stringer and tubes to give tubes a bit of xtra protection. worked a treat.

[Vincent Vega]

Cheers Pottsy, i'll give that a try. :-)

[MEE]

Regarding you outboard, you mentioned that you muff flushed it at the end of the season. If you are operating it in salt or muddy water you should flush it after every outing. If you have not been doing this for some time there could be contamination building up in the cooling passages and hoses. This could explain the weak "tell tale" stream that you mentioned. There are products that you could flush the engine with that claim to remove some of this built up material. Otherwise, if it gets worse or starts running hot under load (don't know if you have a temperature gauge) you will need to have this contamination/build-up mechanically cleaned. This would envolve replacing hoses and removing parts from the engine to get access to clean the cooling passages. I don't mean to scare you and hopfully it will not come to this. If you start flushing after every use it will help prevent it from getting worse and may help clean some of the contamination out on its own. Also they may be some contamination in the tell tale nozzel itself. You may want to take a look in there and carfully clean it with a snake or wire.

I am not sure about over there (across the pond) but here in the states we are mostly using fuel with 10% ethanol. Fuel like this can be a problem with long term storage. The best approach is to keep the tank full and add fuel stabalizer or drain it completely. A partially filled tank with enthanol blended fuel is more likely to absorb water form the air in the tank and this can lead to fuel separation. This can lead to problems with the fuel pump, carb, and other fuel system issues.
Cheers Mate

[jezza2011]

Hi
FLush after every outing
Covers off and very light spray down with fresh water then a good spray of WD40
wash outside down with soapy water
spray wd40 on external moving parts.
grease parts where needed.

TRAILER
wash off with fresh water every dip.
spary down with WD40 regually. check break cables.
grese winch.

Now the bit that I have done to mine for 20+ years and the 2 stoke is going strong...
FLOOD the engine by operating the energency stop and putting the engine to full throttle while cranking it over for a few seconds. do this at the end of the season or for long periods of no use.
this floods the engine and covers the internal parts in oil/fuel.
My logic behind doing ths as opposed ot the run it dry method is that this is a 2storke engine.
oil is carried in the fuel to lubricate the whole engine. so no fuel = no lube.
and i have had no issues.

[MEE]

jezza2011 has some great advice. Flooding the engine with fuel oil mix will help protect many engine components. The full throttle, no ignition is a great idea. This configures the oil injection system to mix 50:1 instead of 100:1 as used for idle. If you don't have oil injection it will still work. You just get what ever you mixed as a protective coating.

WD40 is great for displacing water and preventing corrosion. I have also used Boeshield T-9 for the same purposes. It is a bit more expensive, however, I have found that it provides a much more tenacious coating on all surfaces.
http://boeshield.com/

Regarding your trailer, you need to also do regular maintenance on the hub bearings. If you don't learn to work on them at home you will learn someday on the side of the road. I would recommend you install some super lube hubs from tie down engineering. Zerk fitting on the back of the hubs allow you to lubricate the back and front bearings by pushing out the old grease while supplying new grease. Not only will it push out old grease it will also push out water or any other contaimination that may have intruded. If you anything other than grease coming out it is a good warning sign that you need to replace the hub grease seals.
http://products.tiedown.com/viewitems/marine-trailer-hubs-brakes/super-lube-hub-kits-2?

Get-R-Done (cheers)